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When we try to understand life and the world using knowledge gained from our very own observations and experience, we become coherent, less conflicted and less frustrated and everything begins to make more sense.

[This article was originally published by The Melbourne Atheist Examiner, February 2010 Edition.]

Many atheists come from Christian backgrounds. They more or less struggled through similar experiences. Therefore, it is rare to hear the stories and opinions of those who have come from non-Christian backgrounds. So, it's great to feature an article written by Mr. Ali Sayed. It is refreshing to read the opinions of someone who used to practice Islam about their former religion.

I hope you also find it refreshing and eye-opening. Mr. Sayed must be applauded for his courage and acknowledge his right to express his views and declare once more that Australia is a secular, democratic country that needs freedom of speech.

Like I mentioned in my previous post, From Shock to Perplexity, I noticed quite a number of stories covered by blogs and interest websites that are not covered by the mainstream media.

If these stories are true, they present serious problems for which we need solutions.The first step however, is to identify these stories, and find out which of them are corroborated by independent sources.

Therefore, I will be posting many articles now and in the future about horrific and shocking things that people do to each other in the name of their religions. I want to get an understanding of how many of these stories are covered by big news organisations. With the stories that are not covered by big news organisations, we would eventually want to get an understanding of why they have not been reported.

It is not a task for one man and it is not a task for a day, a week or a month. It's going to be a joint effort, sustained until we bring these issues at the forefront of news, discussion and decision-making. I'll need your support.

I have been reading news articles and reports regarding the brutality of religious individuals inflicting cruelty upon other individuals in the name of their religion. Since the start of this year alone, I can site at least 10 cases where people have been burnt, killed and tortured for not converting to a religion or for being part of another religion. Just recently, I have come across cases upon cases of Christians being murdered and raped by Muslims for refusing to convert to Islam in Pakistan. These cases are shocking to read but after the initial shock, what puzzles me more is why don't we hear about these things in the mainstream media? Why not?

Is it because they are not valid reports?

Is it because they are deemed unimportant?

Is it because they are afraid of how religious organisations might react?

Are these symptoms of problems for which we need solutions?

Could it be that special interest groups are simply making up news based on false or bad information?

Could it be that as a collective, we are finding it acceptable for many people to kill and die for their religion in front of our very eyes because we wrongly equate tolerance for secularity and so we ignore these stories and not want to know about them?

Could it be that mainstream media is able to make enough money for itself, publicising the trivial, entertaining people with the sex scandals of sports people and other celebrities or selling another yet-new product of another company; that their journalistic responsibilities become less important?

Could it be that organisations in mainstream media have too much to lose if they step on the toes of individuals and groups that exist within the power of our societies: religions, corporations and governments.

Could it be that organisations in the media have become players in the struggle for power and influence themselves?

Whatever the truth may be, I feel that people never have sufficient information to get a balanced perspective of who they are in the world they live in. Because of this, I shall be posting many of these articles in the future. They are not really the type of stories you and I want to hear about because they frustrate us and sometimes, they make us angry. I do not want to give the impression that I am a negative person by choosing to focus on these strories but if they are true, and we want to seek the truth, then we cannot not be satisfied with just knowing about the wonderful and beautiful aspects of our lives, our societies and our world. We must also be willing to bear witness to the ugly truths of humanity.

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Watch out for my next post, outlining what we can do in light of this issue.

"What do you do about fear? Not the outside fear, but the nagging, creeping, inside fear that sneaks up on you at night when you're tired, and makes it so your arguments all suddenly disappear, and you wonder if you've been wrong this whole time?

It's happening to me a lot, and making me feel a little insane, especially since I've done deep study of everything from apologetics to philosophy to rhetoric to get here. I'm an atheist because I don't see any evidence for any God(s), but am willing to admit I'm wrong. However...what if we *are* wrong?

Losing/doubting beliefs in gods and in the afterlife because there's no evidence for them is the expected outcome once one realises that a worldview without them fits more with our observations and our experiences.

There is a very important issue ‘invading' our schools at the moment: The National School Chaplaincy Program. It is important because it borders the separation between Church and State. Every parent who has a child in school will certainly have heard, or will hear, of it. In this article, I am going to briefly introduce the nature of this program and mention some numbers to illustrate the type of investment that we, as tax payers, have provided to the program. Thereafter, we will discuss whether this Program should continue or not.